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The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to announce that Philip Hieter is the recipient of the 2018 George W. Beadle Award, bestowed in honor of his outstanding contributions to the genetics research community. Hieter is Professor of Medical Genetics in the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia.Geneticists across the model organism and human genetics communities recognize Hieter for his dedication to uniting human biologists with those who work on model organisms such as mice, fruit flies, worms, and yeast. The resulting collaborations are crucial to...

Some might call him a data parasite, but Paul Pavlidis, PhD, doesn’t mind. “It’s a slur that we now embrace,” he tells Healthcare Analytics News™. “It’s a good thing.”He borrowed the title from a 2016 New England Journal of Medicine op-ed in which its editor-in-chief described the potential for “research parasites” to take advantage of an open data-sharing system, though forms of the label had been around before that article. So, what is a data parasite? “We don’t generate data; we just take it from other people,” says Pavlidis, a psychiatry professor at the University of...

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are the most widely used cell types for the production of therapeutic proteins in the biotechnology industry. These cells are grown in large vessels known as bioreactors, and the eventual productivity of industrial bioprocesses depends largely on maintaining healthy productive cells. The main mechanism by which cells lose their viability is known as apoptosis, which leads to cell death. Having a method to detect the onset of apoptotic processes is therefore critical and remains a constant challenge with conventional methods in an industrial setting.At the...

A medication used to treat joint and skin conditions might also help people whose only hope of surviving cancer is receiving stem cells from a donor, according to research by a University of British Columbia scientist.Transplants of blood stem cells, which can differentiate into all types of blood cells, can be a cure for life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia or lymphoma. But the treatment is often not pursued, because typical donations – often from umbilical cord blood – are unlikely to take root in a patient’s bone marrow and grow into a self-sustaining, blood-forming system....

As scientists make fast and concerted advancements in life-saving technologies, the squeeze on funding could threaten their momentum. That’s where Dr Philip Hieter, President of the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences (CSMB), comes in. To get the ‘biggest bang for their buck’, the CSMB is leveraging its collective knowledge and talents by focusing on the most pressing issues facing fundamental research, like funding. Through advocacy and education, they aim to influence not only present and future scientists, but decision makers in the Canadian government and the world. In 1957 the...

In two small offices of the Michael Smith Laboratories, among the controlled chaos of labs and data, a small team of industrious journalists record a radio show and podcast called Cited. Last month, their hard work was rewarded with one of British Columbia’s most prestigious awards for journalism: The Jack Webster Award in Feature and Enterprise Reporting, for their episode The Heroin Clinic.Cited originally rose out of The UBC Terry Project. Founded by Dr. Dave Ng, science educator and director of the Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory at the MSL, and Dr. Allen Sens, a professor in UBC’s...

Pioneering researchers are finding astonishing evidence that tiny gut microbes may hold the key to preventing – or even curing – asthma and food allergies. Here’s why they say it’s time we learn to love our bacteria. First published in Allergic Living magazine; to subscribe click here. Microbes exist everywhere – in water, air, soil, plants and animals, and from the coldest regions of the Antarctic to the boiling hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the sea. According to microbiologist Brett Finlay, there are far more bacteria on Earth than there are stars in the sky...

These renowned individuals are among the 125 laureates of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame (CMHF), which recognizes Canadian heroes whose work has advanced health.Established in 1994, the national charitable organization aims to inspire pursuit of careers in the health sciences, while celebrating the country’s rich medical history.In April of 2018, an induction ceremony will see Canadian and international leaders recognize six new laureates.Among the inductees will be Dr. Brett Finlay — UBC Peter Wall Distinguished Professor at the Michael Smith Laboratories — who will add this prestigious...

The great quantity of microbes that call our large intestine home have far-reaching influences on our overall health. Dietary fiber, known to scientists as complex polysaccharides, drive gut homeostasis by providing a food source to the intestinal microbiome.Prof. Harry Brumer established an international collaboration with Prof. Eric Martens, at the University of Michigan, and Prof. Gideon Davies, at the University of York, to unravel the intricate strategy adopted by the gut symbiont B. ovatus and other Bacteroidetes species to utilize dietary fiber. Together, they combined their expertise...

Aided by climate change, the Mountain Pine Beetle has already spread into BC’s forests and threatens forests in eastern Canada.A quiet battle is being fought in the forests of western North America, and millions of pine trees are dying in its wake. Shades of green that once permeated the flora of British Columbia’s forests are disappearing.The insides of lodgepole pines are turning blue with a fungus — it is aptly named the blue stain fungus. The trees’ needles are shifting to shades of dull brownish-red. Aerial surveys have observed rolling hills of northwestern pine forests stretching...